Around 30 members of the City Council raised their concerns about the city’s newly proposed budget that slashes 5% of all city agency’s budgets.  

On Monday, the director from the mayor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said that amid the current migrant crisis, New York state has provided over $1 billion in aid while the federal government has provided $156 million.  Despite this, the OMB says cuts will still be necessary. 

In November, the Adams administration estimated that the crisis will cost New York City $11 billion over two fiscal years.  

Finance chair and Brooklyn City Council member Justin Brannan has pushed for tax breaks as an alternative option to cuts, and asked the OMB if that was an option. They responded that they must “take into account that we're dealing with a short-term problem when the benefit of these things are long-term." 

While the OMB and the mayor’s office tout the influx of migrants as the main cause of the budget cuts, the city’s funds have also started to dry up as federal COVID-19 stimulus funding is done.  

The final budget will be settled by July 2024.